The No. 1 University of Arizona Wildcats will advance to the Final Four round of the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament for the first time since 2001, after defeating the No. 2 Purdue University Boilermakers 79-64 in the Elite Eight round on Saturday.
The Wildcats came out aggressive in the second half, outscoring the Boilermakers 48-26 at SAP Center in San José.
Freshman forward Koa Peat led the team with 20 points while going 9-18 from the field, breaking former Arizona guard from the ‘90s Mike Bibby’s record for most points scored as a freshman Wildcat in an Elite Eight game.
Peat explained his strategy after the game.
“Just going out there, playing my game, trusting my teammates, them finding me in open spots and staying the course,” Peat said.
Freshman forward Ivan Kharchenkov added 18 points and eight rebounds, while guards Brayden Burries and Jaden Bradley each added 14 points.
Arizona had an early seven-point lead but the Boilermakers worked to keep it close.
Purdue made its move when senior center Oscar Cluff picked off a pass at halfcourt that led to a three from sophomore guard Gicarri Harris, creating a 23-21 lead over Arizona.
This marked the first time all tournament that Arizona had been down to its opponent.
Purdue’s tough defense in the first half backed by Cluff, Harris and 7’4” sophomore Daniel Jacobson held Arizona to a shooting percentage of 40.7% from the field and 16.7% from three as the Boilermakers took a 38-31 lead into halftime.
Wildcat freshman guard Brayden Burries said at halftime the team came together under Naismith Coach of the Year finalist Tommy Lloyd to regroup for the second half.
“He had a great talk with us, we had great leadership,” Burries said. “We were just telling each other to be steady.”
Lloyd’s message echoed across all of his players who have been able to respond to adversity all season long.
“When you’re down at seven at half, you think this thing is going to come down to the last four minutes and you’re going to have to find a way,” Lloyd said. “That was what I told the guys. Let’s find a way to be in the game in the last four minutes.”
The Wildcats came out of the halftime break with amped up aggressiveness and intensity on both offense and defense.
“We have to be the team that comes out with the most effort out of a timeout in these three-minute time-outs or a 20-minute halftime,” Lloyd said.
Burries would later hit a 24’- 3-point jumper as the crowd erupted and shortly after, Bradley made a driving layup, making the score 42-42 at 15:53.
Later, a bad pass from Smith led to a 23’ 3-pointer from Arizona guard Anthony Dell’Orso, expanding the Wildcats lead to 51-45 with 12:06 remaining.
“You know, JB (Jaden Bradley) actually talked about it. He’s like, ‘stay ready,’ and then the ball found me immediately and I knocked it down and, you know, felt the whole building just go crazy,” Dell’Orso said.
After Dell’Orso’s three, the Wildcats carried their momentum throughout the rest of the game and closed the game with a 28-19 scoring run.
“We just took off, you know, we were on a big run,” Dell’Orso said. “The guys that played a lot, they handle business. They were great.”
The Boilermakers went cold from 3-point range, shooting 1-8 in the second half.
Bradley said the team did its job on preventing Smith from scoring in the second half.
“I felt like our bigs did a great job helping us just in different defensive coverages,” Bradley said. “Whoever was guarding him (Smith) did a great job just mixing it up on him.”
Smith along with forward Trey Kaufman-Renn and guard Fletcher Loyer combined for 12-28 from the field, marking Purdue’s second-worst shooting performance of the season.
“We also knew we had to do a great job on Fletcher Loyer,” Lloyd said. “He made four threes in each of the last two games. We’ve been pretty good when we’re locked in on chasing guys through screens.”
With the victory, Peat praised the team for battling till the end.
“We’ve been through adversity this season,” Peat said. “Can’t get too high or too low … and we went out there and played our game and came out victorious. I’m just proud of the guys. We stayed together.”
The Wildcats look to extend their 13-game winning streak and secure their second national championship title as they take on No. 1 in the Midwest the University of Michigan Wolverines on Saturday, April 4 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.
